Parallel
by Paradise-wolves
Summary: Maybe they're not so different, and maybe they're both a little similar when it comes to thinking.


**Disclaimer: **Characters belong to SEGA.  
**Note:** An attempt into actually writing something for the first time in forever and a day. If you can follow along, props to you.

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"_Why are you helping me?"_

I don't know how to answer that. Maybe it's for the thrill of a fight, the rush of danger and all those feelings inside, the whole combo that makes life worth living while bullets fire from all sides. It's the only way I know to live by now. Maybe it's because i'm labelled as a hero. If I don't follow, if I don't protect, will anyone else rise and do it? Will I be blamed if something goes wrong? Maybe it's just to save my own tail, selfish as that is, I don't want people searching through _all _of my life while they look for something to blame me with.

"_No special reason."_

Brush it off. Play it cool. Act as though you're not thinking about something entirely different. She might not know what's going on in my head, but I do. I do and I can't change my focus onto the task at hand. My attention slips. It's all over and there's the fall.

Repeat the cycle, start again.

"_Shadow, why you?"_

You know why, how can you not? It's not as though this is completely new, a situation that's never happened before. You've gotten into trouble over something before, you've been caught, and I had to get you out of the mess. Do I need to bring up those times again? No, there's no time for that. Don't ask questions, don't waste time wondering. Move those legs, or better yet _fly_, and keep up, we can't afford to both be captured. Brush off that question, just keep moving, they've already caught on if the bullet rain is any clue. The rush that comes from living near death, a chance to test skills and see just how far this line can be followed before all hope is lost, before the end catches up. I'm not in denial, i'm not in a foul mood, i'm in my element and you wouldn't understand.

"_It's a request from the President."_

Shake it off. Ignore it all. Try and focus on getting out with fur in place and tail attached. I can't afford to let focus slip, the item she has is important and it'll be my head if both are injured or worse. Good, a challenge, something to realign my attention. It's only a matter of time before the good doctor catches on.

Repeat the cycle, start again.

The more often I follow this routine, the more often I rescue the princess only to see her taken again, the more i'm starting to notice. Am I doing this to really keep her safe? My attention slips, I leave her alone, or I go off to clear my head. If I was that devoted on protecting her, would I really be doing that? I'm not blind, I'm not as slow as people think when it comes to noticing things, and I can tell what she's doing. Maybe that's why my attention slips back to this, maybe I want to think about that rather than this, her presence and her interest.

Is this what it's like to be around a human for a long amount of time? Did he ever feel this awkward around _her_? Do I only feel awkward now because it's something new, something strange and unnatural? How can he make it sound so easy? I don't understand why he thinks it's so much better to be around one, they're different from us. This don't work out, they never will, we're just...different. I need to try to understand though, I don't know why but I feel like it's important to try and see what it's like.

Maybe then I can try again.

This is complicated, far more complicated than he makes it seem. It's unfair. He can get by and say that it's easy when you're similar, I think it's harder. What can you say when someone already knows about you? Why would I want to be similar when I can be different? I consider her a friend but...I feel as though there's something missing. It's that _connection_, something which I managed to have with Maria but can't grasp now regardless of how much trust I place on her skills.

How can he get to that with damn near everyone and do it effortlessly? Why should he be able to do something like that in between all of his travels? Why can't I reach that point with just two people who I spend so much time with? Maybe it's not a matter of trust...maybe i'm missing something. I need to find out, I can't stand having something staring straight at my face and being clueless as to its existence.

Maybe when I find that out, this can be attempted again.

"_Shouldn't you be somewhere?"_

"_There's all the time in the world."_

"_Time isn't for manipulating when you wish. Get your business done with and leave it alone."  
_

We meet; it's a mutual yet silent agreement to leave the fighting behind right now. I know he wants to hit me, to tell me off for toying with something he's got down to a fine art. Maybe I want to test things and know what he knows, just like I want to be around a human and see what it's like just to have a better grip on things.

I can juggle it. Learning and doing my apparent 'duty', it's all for the sake of living life to the fullest. I think.

He's trying not to smile, he's failing, and I can see that little twitch out of the corner of my eye. I know better than to meddle with things, better than to toy with time in order to create something to my ideas. That's why I didn't return to save Maria, change something once and you risk the hook. One day a little slip up and you resort to meddling with the timeline in order to live life how you want.

I need to juggle it. I need to learn how to depend and have those alike me by my side; it's all to help make life more bearable now. I know.

A smile, slowly growing. A scowl in return.

"_What?"_

"_Nothing."_

"_We're not alike."_

"_Hm?"_

No. Of course we're not. Never were and never will be, it's a lame excuse by now.


End file.
